His face told the story Of a man who'd seen his share Of broken hearts and promises And it seemed that no one cared
He finished off his whiskey Then stared down through his glass He said somehow I got lost in this And watched my life go past
He said life had been his teacher He had learned from his mistakes It had been a long hard lesson That he learned all to late
Said you only have one life And it goes by to fast Don't waste your life looking at the world Through the bottom of a glass
He said he couldn't see it then But now it was so clear That the bottle got the best of him And it wasted all his years
He knew time had closed the door And he could not change the past Those answers he was looking for Weren't in the bottom of the glass
Life had been his teacher He had learned from his mistakes It had been a long hard lesson That he learned all to late
He said you only have one life And it goes by to fast Don't waste your life looking at the world Through the bottom of a glass
Robert Gene Browning Carl Joseph Roberts
The first original idea and draft of this poem was made several years ago by my friend Robert Gene Browning. Bobby and I grew up together since we were 11 years old and I consider him my closest friend. Bobby himself is a fantastic writer and like me dabbles in poetry and song. So with that I must give credit to him as this poem is about his personal feelings. Because it is personal in nature he gets final say on the wording as to reflect what it means inside for him. We have changed single words, lines and entire verses over the last several years. We have also put this poem to song and have tried several different ways to sing it. We have had many discussions on the many different aspects of this poem and changed the wording often. This is my latest modified version and I hope you enjoy.